Building love out of Legos
by bananaslugboy
Summary: Iceland works at Hetalia Children's Center, and he absolutely despises his new coworker Alfred. Can the two learn to get a long? And if they do will it turn into something more?
1. The Newbie

Emil was busy filling dixie cups with apple juice when Felix's deep, yet somehow still nasally voice drifted down the hall.

"Timesheets are over here, and you can keep your stuff in the back room over there. The kids all have name tags so don't worry about having to remember everyone's name. Ask Toris or I if you have any questions."

As he was wrapping up his little tirade Felix walked into the dining hall followed closely by what Emil could only describe as...your typical fuck boy.

Oh, he was pretty, there was no denying that. With a body like a linebacker and eyes the color of topaz, Emil was sure that the man had girls and boys alike vying for his affections. But the snap back and basketball shorts didn't lie, this one wasn't worth swooning over.

"Emil!" Exclaimed Felix, "This is Alfred, he's going to be working here over the summer."

"Nice to meet you," Emil said, nodding his head curtly.

"Yeah! Nice ta meetcha too!" Alfred grinned.

A brief awkward silence followed as Alfred stood there twiddling his thumbs and Emil continued to pour apple juice. Eventually Felix took it upon himself to make conversation.

"62 kids today," he said looking over at Emil's hoard of dixie cups.

"I know, I've only got 12 more cups to go."

Felix nodded, "Alfred, why don't you stay here with Emil and put the cups out. It's 8 per table. I'm going to go wait outside, the school bus should be arriving soon."

Then he left the two younger men to muddle out a conversation on their own.

"So...um," Alfred began as he placed a pair of cups on the table, "What happened to your eyes?"

Emil wanted to smack his head against the table. What sort of person asked a stranger that right off the bat?

"Nothing happened to them," he grumbled, "I have partial albinism, their like this naturally."

"Oooooh, okay. That explains why your hair looks white too!"

"No. _Realy_?" Emil said, sarcasm apparent in his voice.

"Hey! You don't have to be mean about it! Jezz, I thought child care providers were supposed to be nice."

Emil couldn't believe how quickly this guy was getting on his nerves. He was about to turn around and tell him off, but just then the thundering sound of little feet came crashing through the building and into the daycare dining hall and he was forced to put on his 'good role model face'.

"Hey kids, go sit down and eat your pretzels please." he called, ignoring the pout that was still on his new coworkers face. Most of the kids did as they were told, but one of them dismissed his instructions, wandered over, and latched onto his leg.

It was Raivis. Sweet, sad, little Raivis with his too big eyes and oversized, hand me down rain coat. Raivis, who would much rather hang off of the nearest teacher then play with the other kids. He was easily one of Emil's favorite students at the Hetalia Children's Center, but as much as he liked the boy he still had to follow directions.

"Go sit down Raivis, it's snack time right now."

The little boy only sighed before shuffling over to the tables and sitting down next to his bigger, and much more aggressive cousin Natalya.

"What was up with that kid?" Alfred asked, wandering over to the drink refill table with Emil.

"Oh, that's just what Raivis is like."

"Yeah, but is there something wrong with him?"

"No Alfred," Emil replied with a hint of irritation in his voice, "he's just sensitive. Not everyone is a rough and tumble person."

Before Alfred could reply Tino and Elizabeta appeared in the doorway, prodding along the last few straggling kids.

"Hey," Tino said, already looking exhausted.

"Hey," Emil replied, "Where's Bella?"

"Bella's busy calling poison control," said Elizabeta, "Im Yong Soo put a foxglove flower in his mouth and-"

"He didn't ingest any of it, but better safe than sorry, ya know? " Tino cut in.

" But what was he doing if he wasn't eating it?" Emil asked.

"He...he blew it at me like it was a kazoo…" Tino frowned.

Alfred laughed and that was it. That was the point when Emil decided he would never get along with Alfred, not as long as he lived, because being rude and a fuck boy was one thing, but laughing about a kid almost poisoning himself was another.

No, Emil didn't like his new coworker, not one bit.

 **AN: I hope you like this first chapter!**

 **While the actual relationship between Iceland and America is totally made up, all of the weird little things the kids do are based off of actual things the kids at my work have done (yes one of them did blow a foxglove flower at me like it was a kazoo), so if you're ever thinking, 'that's unrealistic, kids would never actually do that' no it's not and yes they would. Welcome to the life of a child care provider.**

 **Please feel free to comment!**


	2. A Bad Taste in Men

Emil opened the door and stepped inside the apartment that he shared with his brother Lukas and Lukas' boyfriend Matthias. He wished he could afford to live on his own, but considering that he currently lived in a quickly gentrifying city, that simply wasn't a possibility. At least he got home before anyone else did,so he still got time to himself, or...at least he usually did...

He was just taking off his shoes when a familiar voice broke through the usually silent apartment and he jumped.

"How was your day Em's?"

It was Lukas. Emil sighed, and let his heart rate slow down a little before he finished taking off his shoes and hung his keys by the door. Then he turned to face his brother and the rest of the living room.

"Uh, fine I guess. There's this new guy at work and he's a total fuck boi, but other then that it was good. Why Are you home so early?"

"Hm? Oh, the library was being rented out for this educator's conference, so they let me leave early. I get to clean up the mess from it tomorrow though," Lukas said, shrugging his shoulders, "So a fuck boi huh? Why do you say that?"

Emil huffed, "Well he looks like one for a start. And before you give me one of your high and mighty speeches about not judging a book by it's cover, I'll have you know that he was also rude to me about my albinism and he laughed about one of the kid almost eating foxglove!"

"So exactly your type then," Lukas said with a snort.

"Hey!" Emil squawked, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Well let me think," Lukas said with a smirk, "for starters, there was Gilbert."

"That was one time!" Emil retorted.

"And then their was Anthony."

"He was nice once you got to know him!"

"Uh huh, and Romeo."

"He had a good sense of humor!"

"And what, about Leon?"

"Oh my god Lukas, We're just friends," Emil sighed.

"Okay, but my point still stands. Exactly your type."

"Ya know," Emil grumbled, "Just because you're dating a fuck boi doesn't mean you have to project your problems onto me."

"Matthias isn't a fuck boi." Lukas argued.

"The hell he isn't!"

"Fine, maybe he is, but he's better than most of them. Not _all_ fuck bois are bad."

"If you say so Lukas," Emil said with a sigh.

They were silent for a minute. Then Emil yawned. Working at the daycare always exhausted him and today was no exception.

"I'm tired," he told his brother, "I'm going to go take a nap."

* * *

Emil woke up an hour and a half later to the sound of Matthias loudly singing what he presumed was pop song, but the taller man was so incredibly off key that he really couldn't tell.

Groaning, he sat up and checked his phone for notifications. There were two texts and an email.

He checked the email first, but it was nothing important, just spam from (he should never have signed the petition to put a statue of Stefán Karl Stefánsson up in that small Icelandic town. It didn't even affect him). The texts on the other hand were both from his best friend Leon.

 **Leon: Hey do you like**

 **Leon: want to go do something with me later?**

Emil rolled his eyes before replying.

 **Emil: I'll like, do something with you later if you learn not to double text.**

It only took a minute for his friend to reply.

 **Leon: I**

 **Leon: Guess**

 **Leon: You**

 **Leon: Don't**

 **Leon: Want**

 **Leon: Me**

 **Leon: To**

 **Leon: Buy**

 **Leon: You**

 **Leon: Ice**

 **Leon: Cream**

 **Leon: Then**

Emil sighed. Some day he was going to get better friends, but until that happened he was stuck with Leon.

 **Emil: Fine, I'll go get Ice Cream with you jerk.**

 **Leon: Yes!**

 **Leon: Meet me at the Ben and Jerry's in 20!**

So Emil got up, put on his coat and shoes, and left his apartment hoping for an uneventful night.

* * *

 **AN: I've only ever met one acceptable fuck boi in my life, but who knows, maybe there's more out there.**

 **Note: Anthony is Molossia and and Romeo is Seborga**

 **reviews are appreciated!**


	3. The Ice Cream Parlor

Emil rounded the street corner only to see Leon jump up from the bench in front of the Ben and Jerry's.

"Emil! Like how are you?" he said in greeting.

"I'm good," Emil replied, " what abo-" but he was cut off as Leon yammered on at a fast pace.

"Good, good. Okay, listen, this total hunk and his friend walked in to get some ice cream just before you got here, and I know you're not great at the whole wing man thing, but I need you to help me get his number."

Emil gawked at his friend.

"Jesus christ Leon, I know you're desperate, but are you really going to try and pick people up at an ice cream parlor? If you're looking for a date then go to a gay bar or something."

"Hey!" Leon interjected, giving his friend the most offended look he could, "I would do it for you!"

"No you wouldn't, because I would never ask you to help me hit on people at _a_ _fucking ice cream parlor_ ," Emil countered, "that guys just here trying to hang out with his friend, leave him alone."

"Fine," Leon pouted, "but at least let me point him out to you."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, can we just go get our ice cream please?"

The door jingled as they stepped inside and the smell of waffle cones hit them both as they got in line to order.

"mmmm," Leon said, "that smells delicious," just then his eyes trained on a corner of the room and he smirked, "and speaking of delicious, there's that cutie I was telling you about."

Emil followed his friend's gaze to the man in the corner and just about died of second hand mortification. Their, sitting with a bomber jacket draped across the chair next to him, was Alfred.

"Oh no," Emil groaned, "Come on Lee, not that guy."

"What do you mean? What's wrong with him?" Leon asked defensively.

"He's such a fuck boi, Lee," Emil sighed, "He works at Hetalia Children's Center with me, and from what I can tell he's a total jerk. Let's go somewhere else before he sees us."

But it was too late for that. Just as they were about to turn around and leave Alfred turned around and saw them. Over the clamor of the ice cream parlor Emil could heard the man's loud voice as he excitedly exclaimed to the small dark haired man across from him.

"Hey! That's the grumpy guy from my new job! We should ask him to sit with us!"

And then his hand shot up in the air and waved to the two of them, and at that moment, as Emil stood there awkwardly waving back at his coworker, he would have given just about anything to be invisible.

Leon couldn't help but laugh at Emil lackluster wave and displeased face.

"Ooooooh nooooo," he said, his voice brimming with sarcasm, "we have to go sit with a cute boy now, whatever will we dooooo?"

"Shut up asshole. Why don't you go pick out your ice cream or something?"

It was right about then that both boys noticed how close they were to the front of the line.

"Oh shoot!" exclaimed Leon, "I haven't even looked at their choices yet!"

In the end they both ended up ordering a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream before going to sit down with Alfred and his friend.

"Hey! Who's your bro?" Alfred asked as they took their seats.

"Oh, that's just-"

"My name's Leon," the smaller man interjected, "I'm Emil's cooler, funnier, best friend."

Emil glared at the Chinese boy before turning back to Alfred.

"And who's your friend over there," he said, motioning to the raven haired man across from him.

"Oh that's Kiku! He's my best bud!"

Kiku simply nodded back at them, appearing to be intensely focused on his cell phone.

"He's kind of quite," Alfred explained apologetically, "But anyways what have you guys been up to? We just went to the new exhibit at the aerospace museum. Have you seen it?"

"No," Emil said, "but I saw on of the flyers for it. It's about biplanes right?"

He was cautiously optimistic about this conversation. The aerospace museum was one of his favorite places to go, maybe, he thought, Alfred and I could have something in common after all.

"Yep! It was great. I bought a model of a French Nieuport 17 from the gift shop, so now I'm a bisexual with a biplane."

Alfred laughed at his own joke and Kiku shook his head in response.

"He spent the whole time making puns about his sexuality, it was ridiculous."

But Emil barely heard Kiku's complaint, the gears in his head were turning to fast for him to pay attention.

Alfred was queer? He had totally pegged him as an oblivious straight guy. After all, most queer men didn't wear adidas snapbacks...or at least not the ones Emil knew.

"Oh my god Emil" Leon said, breaking the albino out of his thoughts, "why didn't you tell me he was another gay? I can't believe you would keep that sort of important information from me!"

Emil gave his friend an exasperated look, "I met him today Lee, how was I supposed to know he was queer? And why do you care so much anyways?"

Alfred laughed awkwardly, breaking back into the conversation, "So are you guys are queer too?"

"Yeah totally," Leon replied, "I'm gay and Emil here is gay _and_ ace. So like, a fancy gay."

"It's not fancy Leon, I just don't feel sexual attraction," Emil huffed.

"...Right..." Alfred said, sounding a little apprehensive, "um..so Emil you said you saw the flyer for the aerospace exhibit, are you into space stuff too?"

Emil was incredibly glad for the change in topic.

"Um yeah I guess, but what I really like is airplanes. The Boeing 247 is my favorite, did you know that it was the first modern airliner?"

"Nerd," Alfred said with a chuckle,"But that's okay, I'm I pretty big nerd too, but I like space ships better."

The four of them stayed in the ice cream parlor for two hours, talking and laughing about various things and, to his surprise Emil found that he was having a fairly pleasant time.

Maybe, Emil thought as he walked out the parlor door, Alfred's not so bad. Maybe we could even be friends.

 **AN: Making puns about your sexuality is gay culture, sorry I don't make the rules.**

 **Reviews are appreciated!**


	4. The Barbie Doll Conversation

Emil was in the process of picking domino's off the daycare floor when he overheard one of the kids giving Alfred the first degree.

"What's your name?"

"Alfred."

"How old are you?"

"19."

"Oh, well my big brother is 20. He's older than you."

"Yup."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red white and blue."

"You have to pick one."

"Why?"

"Cus you just _do_."

That was the point when Emil decided to jump in and save the poor man. He knew this drill. Kids could keep going like this for hours if no one stopped them.

"He can have three favorite colors if he wants to Aurel."

"Fine..." the little boy pouted,before turning back to Alfred, "so what's your favorite number?"

"50."

"Favorite animal?"

"Banana slugs."

Aurel continued to grill Alfred for a good 8 minutes, despite Emil's best efforts. By the time he was done both men were ready to tape the child's mouth shut, but of course they weren't allowed to do that.

"Ugh," Alfred sighed once Aurel had finally finished his questioning and left, "That's the third kid to do that to me today."

"Don't worry," Emil said, "They'll stop after about two weeks."

Alfred laughed, "Oh man, I don't think I can make it that long."

"Go play with the five year olds then," Emil countered, "They won't ask questions, they just want you to pick them up."

"Like for a hug?"

"Nah," Emil chuckled, "not hugs. I'll show you what I mean."

He scanned the room for a minute before deciding on a kid to play with and calling them over.

"Hey Feliciano," he said, "do you want to get picked up?"

The little boy squealed in delight and nodded his head before running over and latching onto Emil's arm.

Emil laughed before proceeding to lift the little boy up into the air like he was doing reps. Feliciano giggled in delight just like all the other kids did at this age.

Emil would have kept lifting the kid, but of course it only took about two and a half reps for Alfred to but in and comment on the situation.

"Do you even lift bruh?"

Emil almost dropped Feliciano on the ground from embarrassment.

"Excuse you?"

"Sorry," Alfred chuckled, "It's just kind of funny watching a tiny person like you try to pick up a kid like that. I guess I wasn't expecting it."

Emil set Feliciano back on the ground before turning to the blond with a huff.

"I'm not tiny."

"Yeah sure," Alfred scoffed, "and I'm a heterosexual."

"Children are tiny!" Emil argued, "I'm medium height!"

"Is that why you work at a daycare then?" Alfred questioned,"Because being around kids makes you feel tall?"

"No…" Emil grumbled, "Or I mean, at least that's not the only reason. I enjoy working with kids too."

Alfred burst out laughing right then and there.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you! I was making a joke. That's funny as all hell!"

"Yeah, yeah. Make fun of me if you want to, but at least I'm not absolutely giant like you are."

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it," Alfred said with a wink, "Living on an isolated mountain top and eating wayward humans is a lot more fun than people make it out to be."

* * *

Later that evening, after the kids had all gone home and they were cleaning up for the day, Emil found himself cleaning up the barbies alongside Alfred.

"Who knew a bunch of dolls could need so many shoes," Alfred commented as he dug yet another pinky sized stiletto heel out of the fringe carpeting, "I mean seriously, this is ridiculous."

"Yeah well, you get used to it," Emil replied, not taking much interest in the conversation.

"Yeah, well I bet I could get used to you too," Alfred smirked.

Emil stopped in the middle of attaching a barbie head to its designated body and looked up at the man across from him with wide eyes. Was… was Alfred hitting on him? He thought, because if he was then goddamn was that smooth.

Emil himself however, had never been especially great at flirting. So instead of trying to reply with something equally smooth, he instead opted for croaking out the first stupid thing that came to mind.

"What?"

Alfred's smirk turned into a soft, nervous smile.

"Uh, okay, maybe the normal flirty stuff doesn't work for you. Let me think… um, Emil I really like you and I was wondering if you wanted to go out for coffee or dinner or something sometime."

Despite Alfred's obvious come on just a few seconds ago Emil was still quite taken aback by the man's request and it showed in his sputtering response.

"Like-like a date? But Alfred we've on known each other for a week."

"I know," Alfred said, "But listen Emil, I have a lot of fun talking to you here at work, and I had even more fun a few nights ago when we ran into each other at the Ben and Jerry's, and I really want to get to know you better outside the context of work. So how about it? Why don't you let me take you on a date and if you don't like it then we never have to go out again. I just want a change to get to know you."

Emil sat quietly for a moment, fiddling with a barbie doll head and considering his options.

Finally after a few minutes of awkward silence he spoke.

"Okay," he said, "one date. But you better make it a good one, you hear me?"

* * *

 **Note: Aurel is a human name for Moldova**

 **Reviews are appreciated!**


	5. Getting Ready

Emil stood in front of his closet and shifted through his clothes.

Alfred was picking him up in an hour for their date at...the aquarium. What exactly were you supposed to wear to a first date at an aquarium?

Was business casual too much? Was Jeans and a t-shirt too little? Emil didn't know, but he also knew that Lukas and Matthias were not the right people to ask for fashion advice.

So, not knowing what else to do, he texted Leon.

 **Emil: Hey could I get your opinion on something?**

 **Leon: Idk**

 **Leon: On like**

 **Leon: what?**

Emil rolled his eyes at his friend's apparent inability to type complete sentences.

 **Emil: What should I wear on a first date to the aquarium?**

 **Leon: Dude, wear like**

 **Leon: one of those stupid puffin shirts you have**

 **Leon: the aquarium people like will love it**

 **Leon: who are you like**

 **Leon: going out with?**

 **Emil: I'm going out with Alfred. You know that guy we saw at the Ben and Jerry's?**

 **Emil: And seriously? A puffin shirt? I'm trying to impress my date, not the people working there.**

It took significantly longer for Leon to respond this time, and when he did Emil was less than impressed.

 **Leon: WHAT?**

 **Leon: YOU MEAN THAT HUNK YOU MADE FUN OF** _ **ME**_ **FOR FLIRTING WITH?**

 **Leon: I CAN'T LIKE BELIEVE YOU**

 **Leon: YOU'RE SUCH A TRAITOR**

 **Leon: and yes a puffin shirt**

 **Leon: he should know what he's getting into**

 **Leon: you traitorous dork**

 **Emil:** _ **He**_ **was the one that asked** _ **me**_ **out Lee, you don't need to get all pissy about it.**

 **Emil: And okay fine,I guess I'll wear a puffin shirt with jeans, thanks for the advice.**

 **Leon: make sure it's the black one**

 **Leon: you know**

 **Leon: the one that says "I freaking love puffins"**

 **Leon: the black makes you look like slimmer**

 **Emil: I don't need to look slimmer Lee. I am, as you've so delicately put it in the past, a twink.**

 **Leon: Idk man**

 **Leon: I think you're more of twunk**

 **Emil: Leon** _ **please**_

 **Leon: alright aright**

 **Leon: just wear that shirt okay**

 **Leon: do it for your pal Lee**

 **Emil: Fine. I'll look like a complete idiot for you. Are you happy?**

 **Leon: I'm ecstatic.**

Emil put down his phone and started getting dressed. His shirt was halfway over his head when Lukas knocked on his door and then walked in without waiting for a response.

"Well little bro," he smirked, "What are you getting all dressed up for?"

"I've got a date," Emil replied as he tugged his shirt on all the way.

"Oh really with who?"

"Alfred."

"I fucking knew it," Lukas said, giving his brother a shit eating grin.

Before Emil could respond Lukas was sticking his head out of the doorway and calling across the apartment to Mattias, "Hey did you hear that Matt? Emil is going out with the fuck boi that definitely wasn't his type."

"Now way!" Matthias yelled back, "a fuck boi that definitely wasn't his type turned out to totally be his type? What is this dashavoo that's washing over me?"

"Oh shut up!" Emil grumbled, "I don't even know if I like him that way yet. We're just going on one date to try it out."

"Oooooh, got it, so it's just a quick hook up then." Lukas said,turning back around so that Emil could see his face.

"It is not!" Emil shouted indignantly, "It's just a date! And if it goes well we'll go on another one. Stop being so gross."

"Alright alright, no need to get upset. I was just messing with you bro. I hope you have fun."

"Thanks," Emil sighed as he shoved his phone and wallet into his pocket. "I'll be back in few hours, bye"

"Bye Em's, have a good time."

But Emil barely heard his brother's good wishes. He was already out the door and halfway down the stairs, excited to meet Alfred for their date.

* * *

 **AN:Sorry that this is so short and that it took so long to write, I'm kind of busy with college stuff right now.**

 **Also I'm realising that I don't have a clue how I'm going to end this story so if y'all have any suggestions please let me know.**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


	6. The Aquarium

Emil couldn't help but stare at the decorations surrounding the ticket counter as they walked into the aquarium. He hadn't been here since he was a kid and the fimo kelp leaves that encircled the windows and lined the outside of the booth were a pretty drastic scenery change from the dull, tan, fish silhouettes that he remembered decorating the space.

"Big fan of seaweed?" Alfred asked, turning to Emil as he stood at the counter and waited for the teller to swipe his card.

"Uh, no," Emil muttered in embarrassment, "I just haven't been here in awhile."

"Well, then it will be an adventure for you!" Alfred exclaimed as the cashier handed him a pair of day passes, "Come on! Let's go to the tropical fish hall first!"

And just like that the taller blond had Emil by the hand and was pulling him through a sea of suburban moms and sticky toddlers. Once they had gone several feet, passing the jellyfish and touch tank exhibits without stopping, the two men found themselves confronted by a large, fake, cave shaped, coral reef.

"Look it's Nemo!" Alfred squealed as they entered the 'cave'. He let go of Emil's hands and ran over to the clownfish tank, pressing his nose up against the viewing window until his glasses scraped against the plexiglass.

"Um..yeah," Emil blushed. Alfred's excitement was...kind of cute, but it was also embarrassing. Didn't Al know that he was a 6-foot tall man who came across as intimidating? Emil really hoped this sort of behavior didn't cause any of the suburban moms too-

"And there goes, Dory!"

"Yup," Emil sighed as a royal blue tang swam past them. This was going to be an awfully long date if this kept up.

"Come on let go to the next tank, it's got Carribean reef sharks!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Sure, why not."

But instead of heading for the shark tank as expected Alfred turned around to face Emil, a frown evident on his face.

"Hey, why do you sound so down? Aren't you having fun?"

"I'm just tired," Emil lied. He might be embarrassed by Alfred's behavior, but that didn't mean he wanted him to feel bad about it.

"You weren't tired when we got here, and that was only a few minutes ago. Come on, tell me what's really wrong," Alfred pouted.

"I-uh, um, well, you see I- uh" Emil stuttered as he tried to come up with a better lie. Shit, that was his normal excuse for being unenthused, now what was he supposed to say? "um, I'm just...not a very big fan of tropical fish. Their colors are..too bright for me? I prefer small grey fish like herring...yeah, herring," he said, trying his best to sound convincing, but knowing beyond any hint of a doubt that he wasn't.

"Oh!" Alfred cried, his face brightening instantly, "well if that's the only problem, then we can go to the Fish of the North Atlantic exhibit!"

"Oh, uhh, yeah, that would be good," Emil replied mindlessly as he tried to figure out how on God's green earth Alfred hadn't called bullshit on him.

In fact he was so perplexed by Alfred's blind trust in his excuse that he barely even noticed as he was pulled through the sea foam green halls of the aquarium and into a large exhibit room with the words Fish of the North Atlantic: Wonders From the Deep written across the entrance in large, dark blue, impact font. It was only once they were in the room that he snapped out of it, taking dim lighting and "underwater" wall patterning that was being projected by a light in the ceiling.

"Here are the fish you want to see," Alfred said as they walked over to a large, multi-species tank that took up the whole wall, "What do you think."

Emil stood there for a minute, watching as a school of capelins swam past, flashing their scales as the went. It was oddly calming, and while Emil had been lying when he said he didn't like tropical fish, he couldn't help but admit that he liked this room better. It had fewer people and more ambiance, two things that could improve any first date.

"It's nice," he stated after watching the fish for a few more seconds.

"Yeah," Alfred said, before pointing to a spotted wolffish, "hey look at that guy!"

"I bet he's an asshole," Emil joked.

"Oh totally, I mean just look at those teeth."

"And speaking of teeth, look at that one over there over there," Emil mused, gesturing to a black scabbard fish at the bottom of the tank.

"Oh, he's gruesome! That dude could totally take me in a fight."

"I know right," Emil grinned.

In that moment, as he and Alfred stood there in light of the fish tank and continued to chuckle at the leering eye of a haddock that was pressed against the glass, Emil realized that he was having fun. Real genuine fun. The type where you laugh hard enough and loud enough that you forget to worry about what people think of you. The type of fun that he hadn't had in a long time. And he suddenly felt a very strong urge to kiss the man that had made him this happy.

He was just about to pucker his lips and stand on his tiptoes when Alfred suddenly turned to him with a delighted grin.

"Hey, I bet I know another exhibit that you'll like even more!" he proclaimed.

"O-oh," Emil muttered, disappointed that his attempt at a kiss had been preempted, "What exhibit is that?"

"Come on I'll show you!" Alfred said, almost bouncing on his toes in anticipation as he led the two of them back into the aquarium's main hallway, "You're going to love it!"

Emil followed along, trying his best to guess their next location until Alfred finally stopped. There, standing in front of them was the worn wooden door to one of the outdoor exhibit, with the words Seabirds written across the top of the casing in loopy slanted letters that were reminiscent of a surfboard rental company.

"When I saw the shirt you were wearing today I knew we had to come here," Alfred explained as he pulled open the door, "It just wouldn't be right if you didn't get to see any puffins!"

Emil looked down at his I freaking love puffins shirt, and realizing what a wonderfully morbid joke he could make out of this situation, looked back at Alfred with a blank face.

"I love puffins because they're delicious," he said, doing everything in his power to suppress a smile.

Alfred's face drained of color instantly.

"They what now?"

The look of horror on the taller man's face was enough to make Emil burst into giggles.

"It was a joke, don't look so freaked out! I mean they do taste good, but I also think they're cute. Not to mention they have some ridiculously complex social behaviors."

"Okay, but...how would you know that they still taste good?" Alfred asked warily.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm from Iceland, it's a delicacy there," Emil responded, "but if it helps I haven't eaten any puffins sense I was 6. That's when my family moved to the U.S"

"Well…" Alfred said, a little bit of color coming back into his face, "I guess that makes sense if it was a traditional thing… uh, you won't eat these puffins will you?"

"No, of course not," Emil laughed, "They're behind like two layers of plexiglass anyways, I couldn't get to them if I wanted to."

"Um...yeah...okay then," Alfred puled, dropping the subject, "Are-are there any other seabirds you like besides puffins-not in an eating way I mean."

"Oh of course! You know I really love guillemots. Did you know that black guillemots can hold their breath underwater for up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds? That's almost twice as a long as a puffin can hold its breath!" Emil blabbered. He usually wasn't one to talk much about his personal interests, but considering the fact that they were in a marine bird exhibit his obsession with seabirds seemed like an appropriate discussion topic.

"Boy, you sure know a lot about this huh," Alfred commented, "Did you study birds in college or something?"

"Nah, I just spend too much time on Wikipedia," Emil admitted. He was about to say more, but instead opted to stop mid-conversation to point to one of the animal enclosures, "Hey look! There are some Brünnichs Guillemots in that enclosure! You know they're one of the most common birds in the northern hemisphere. They're also part of the Auk family. Aren't they cute! Look how those two are preening each other!"

"You know I don't think I've ever heard you talk this much before," Alfred mentioned, looking at Emil in amusement.

"Oh...uh, sorry, am I steering the conversation too much?" Emil wondered out loud, anxiety getting the better of him, "I can stop talking if you want, I know I get a little chatty when it comes to birds."

"Nah, don't worry about it, I think it's cute."

"Oh, uh, okay," Emil blushed. He was not intending to be cute, he was intending to sound educated, but hey, sometimes actions had unintended consequences. He sure as hell wasn't going to complain, this was a date after all.

"Hey look," Alfred said, pulling Emil out of his thoughts, "There are the puffins."

"Where!?" Emil exclaimed, whipping his head around to where Alfred was pointing before running over to the puffin exhibit.

"Slow down there buddy, they're not going anywhere," Alfred laughed, as he followed Emil over to the exhibit "So say then mister ornithologist, got any fun facts about puffins for me?"

"Of course I do!" Emil cried, as he leaned into the glass enclosure to get a better view, "For starters, there are 4 different species of puffins. These guys here are Atlantic puffins, and oh gosh they're adorable! Look at that one swimming with fish in its mouth! Anyways Atlantic puffins have incredibly intricate social behaviors, they have to land with their feet in a very particular position during nesting season to show that they're not a threat to other puffins and when they walk through each other's territories they- oooooh my god, oh my god. Look at those two! they have a puffling! It's so fluffy! Did you know that pufflings can't eat herring? They can only eat smaller forage fish like sand lance or they'll choke. It's actually become a big problem with- holy guacamole, look at that charming little guy strutting around over there, what a good handsome birdy you are. Yes, you are! Yes you a-"

Suddenly Emil realized that he was being pulled away from the viewing window of the puffin enclosure. Before he had time to reject, however, Alfred managed to thoroughly shut him up by giving him a chaste, but hearty, kiss, brushing both of their chapped lips together just long enough for Emil to regain his bearings.

"You're a heck of a lot cuter than I originally thought," Alfred chuckled as he pulled away from the kiss, "But next time I'd appreciate it if you finished one thought on the intricacies of puffin behavior before you started a new one. Seems like some interesting stuff, I would love to hear it all again later when I can take notes."

"Oh-okay" Emil stuttered out, still a bit dumbfounded from the unexpected kiss, "I'll try to keep that in mind."

"I'm sure you will," Alfred laughed, "No come on, let's go look at the jellyfish."

 **An: Gezz it's been a long time guys, sorry! I hope the length of this chapter can make up for it!**

 **I'm in my first year of college right now so I haven't been writing as much, but I do intend to finish this story I swear.**

 **Thank you very much for your patience!**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


	7. The People You Meet on Busses

"Well you're certainly home early," Lukas quipped, extracting himself from a make-out session with Matthias as Emil walked through the front door.

"It was only the first date, Lukas," Emil sighed as he took his shoes off and sat down on the couch, "It's not like I was going to spend the night. And anyways we both had to leave and get ready for the after school care shift, I mean why else would we have gone out so early in the day?"

"Because you're a square," Matthias answered, "And speaking of which, how was your nerdy aquarium date Mr. Quadrilateral?"

"It was good!" Emil replied, ignoring the other man's jab at his personality, "We went to the seabird exhibit and Alfred didn't even seem annoyed when I started talking about puffins."

"Really? Oh Emil, marry him now while you still have the chance." Lukas mocked, throwing a hand over his forehead in a fake-dramatic pose, "Who knows if you'll ever meet another man who can handle your puffin obsession."

"Oh shut up Lukas," Emil grumbled, crossing his arms in a huff, "Can't I like a guy without you making snide jokes about it?"

"Absolutely not."

"Ugh! Fine. You know what? Make fun of me and my date. I don't care," Emil huffed as he got up from the couch and started to stomp out of the room, "I'm going to go get ready for work."

"Can't you stomp more quietly? You're disturbing the neighbors," Lukas called after him. Emil ignored him, opting instead to slam his bedroom door shut and flop down on his bed.

The problem with him and Lukas sharing an apartment, Emil thought bitterly, was that the money he saved by staying with his brother didn't always make up for the teasing sibling rivalry he had to put up with. That being said, renting an apartment by himself with his income just wasn't a realistic possibility. He would just have to put up with his brothers teasing for now.

He sighed and buried his head into his pillow, allowing himself to wallow in self-pity for a few more seconds. Then he rolled over reluctantly and sat up in his bed. He really did need to get ready for work.

* * *

The bus lurched to a halt and Emil toppled into the person standing next to him. An event that greatly sullied Emil's already unpleasant commute to work.

"Sorry," he said as he regained his balance.

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault," The girl he had run into replied, as she readjusted the pink flower clips in her hair. She was just about done fixing her hair when suddenly she stopped to look at him.

"Hey, I know you!" she exclaimed.

"You do?" Emil asked without thinking.

"Yeah! You're that guy that my girlfriend's brother is trying to get with."

"What?"

"You know Alfred right?"

"Um...yes?"

"Well, I'm his sister's girlfriend, Mei. He sent his sister Michelle a snapchat of the two of you at the aquarium this morning while I was over at her place. That's how I recognized you."

"Oh...okay," Emil replied cautiously, "Well um, hi, my name is Emil."

"Nice to meet you, Emil!" Mei exclaimed enthusiastically. Then she decided to go on a tirade that Emil was by no means ready for.

"So Alfred huh? I mean I know he's got nice abs but what do you see in him? It can't be his sense of humor. The only jokes he ever tells are bad puns. Is it his money? Because I know his dads are rich, but they've kind of insisted that their kids at least try to be financially independent, so he doesn't have that much cash. He has the personality of a store brand paragon, so it can't be that. Is he good in bed? I just don't get it."

"Wh-what," Emil spluttered, " Abbs? Rich fathers? What on earth are you talking about? I've only been on one date with the guy, I don't even know if I really like him yet."

"Oh, well I guess that makes bad though," Mei murmured as she pulled a business card out of her wallet, "Here, text me sometime. Let me know if you ever find which of Alfred's personality traits makes him tolerable. And really do text me too, my curiosity just is insatiable. Well, anyways this it was my stop. Nice meeting you, bye!"

Emil could only stand there, mouth agape, as the bus doors swung open. What the hell had just happened.

"Next stop 35th and Hetalia st," a computerized voice droned through the bus.

Realizing his stop was next, Emil straightened up and slipped the bubble gum pink business card that labeling Mei as the assistant manager of the city's most popular comic book shop into his pant pocket. He would just have to ask Alfred about it later.

* * *

"So…." Emil began as he and Alfred knelt on the floor together picking up legos, "I met your sister's girlfriend on the bus today."

"Which one?" Alfred asked as he pulled a Playmobil out of the lego pile.

"What do you mean which one?" Emil replied a little bit dumbfounded, "Do you have more than one sister?"

"What? no," Alfred laughed, "I mean which of Michelle's girlfriends are you talking about? She's dating like five people, and most of them are ladies."

"Oh my god, she's cheating on her girlfriend!?"

"Um, no. She's polyamorous dude. All of her partners know she's dating other people."

"Oh, uh, I guess that's fine then...um, well yeah well I definitely met one of them," Emil floundered, realizing that the conversation had come to an unpleasant stopping point.

"Okay, but you didn't answer my question. Which one? Was is Lien? Tamara? Mei? Oh wait, was it Katyusha? Because they're actually agender, but a lot of people mistake them for a girl," Alfred interjected, crawling under the table to retrieve a pile of red and yellow Lego blocks.

"Um, I think she said her name was Mei."

"Oh gross," Alfred groaned, "Mei is just the worst."

"Really? She seemed pretty okay to me," Emil countered as he went to pick up a group of legos that had somehow made it all the way to the other side of the room, "a little talkative yeah, but she seemed nice."

"Humph, well sure she's nice when you've only just met her, but let me tell you, I'm friends with her cousin Yao and from what he's told me I can tell you that she's a pretty nasty person. Michelle could do better." Alfred concluded. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "And you should stay away from her. She's bad news."

"Well," Emil said with a huff, "I appreciate your concern, but I think I'll decide on her character for myself. I try not to make snap judgments about people based on 3rd hand information."

"Suit yourself, but Yao said-"

"Wait, hold on a second. This Yao you're talking about wouldn't happen to be Wang Yao would it?"

"I-uh...yeah," Alfred admitted.

"The same Wang Yao who runs what is probably the sketchiest gay bar in the whole city?"

"...yeah."

"Didn't he rent out his bar to a bunch of tankies one time?"

"Well, he did but-"

"And didn't he turn a blind eye to an illegal wrestling ring that was happening next door to him for almost three years?"

"There's no proof of that!"

"And you want me to believe a bunch of dirt this guy made up about his cousin?"

"Listen, man, Yao's given me some really good advice when I needed it. I trust him. And anyway, how do you know all that stuff?"

"I'm best friends with his younger brother."

"Oh..well, yeah I guess you would know about all that stuff then," Alfred conceded.

"You know for a daycare provider you certainly seem to hang out with an interesting group of people," Emil smirked.

"Oh please. I'm not some secret bad boy if that's what you're thinking," Alfred said in exasperation, "Yao and I knew each other in high school. We were lab partners and the only two queer kids in our AP chem class. That's why we're friends. No other reason."

"Yeah whatever you say store brand paragon."

"Excuse me?"

"That's what Mei called you," Emil explained.

"Ugh!" Alfred cried, "She really is the absolute worst!"

"Yeah I sort of got the feeling she wasn't your biggest fan either buddy," Emil laughed, "Now come on, help me move these lego's back into the storage closet."

* * *

 **AN: In a shocking twist that absolutely everyone predicted, America and Taiwan don't get along very well.**

 **On a fun side note, I actually know how I want to end this fic now, so yay! Having a plot is exciting!**

 **Tamara -Human name for the Czech Republic**

 **Lien -Human name for Vietnam**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


	8. The Third Date

Emil leaned his head against the wall of the crowded burger joint, closed his eyes, and sighed. This was his and Alfred's 3rd date, and it wasn't going very well.

Their first date at the aquarium had been fun if a little bit juvenile. For their second date, Alfred had taken him ice skating and it had been one of the most romantic dates Emil had ever been on. This place, on the other hand, was not fun or romantic. It was noisy and hectic, and completely overstimulating.

In all fairness the burgers were good, Alfred hadn't been lying about that. But he had neglected to mention the atmosphere, and now that Al had stepped out to go to the bathroom Emil needed to recuperate.

So he sat there on the torn red vinyl of a fifties style diner chair, leaning his head against a vintage red and green Mountain Dew poster, and kept his eyes shut tight to block out the amalgamation of model airplanes, 1970's records, and 60's fast food advertisements that surrounded him. Then he reached up and covered his ears with the cuffs of his sweater, muffling the sound of boisterous families and crying children that filled the restaurant.

He stayed like that for a minute or two, doing his best to recollect his senses. He would have happily kept himself in this closed of state too if he hadn't been pulled out of it my a tap on the shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?"

Emil reluctantly opened his eyes to see Alfred's concerned face staring at him. He took his hands off of his ears and sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just get kind of overwhelmed in crowded places like this."

"Oh man. Sorry about that, you should have told me, I would have picked someplace else to take you to."

"It's alright Al, I'm fine."

"Nah, you're not enjoying yourself, I can tell. Come on, let's go pay and then we can head somewhere else."

Once they had paid for their meal and were standing idly under a street lamp in the frosty winter evening the question of where they should go came upon them.

"So...uh, the movies? My treat," Emil suggested.

"Um..well actually," Alfred replied, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck anxiously, "I was thinking that maybe we could...head over to my place? Only if you want to that is. I mean we don't have to. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

Emil blushed profusely and did his best to laugh away the awkward atmosphere.

"S-sure. We can do that if you want. Why not?"

"Okay cool, I uh, live on 32nd street so we should head over there."

* * *

Emil was in a state of awe the second he walked into the condominium. He knew 32nd street was where all the rich trust fund kids lived, but he had never really been able to visualize what "trust fund kid" meant until now. The lobby was incredibly decadent, complete with a chandelier, a concierge, and a number of art pieces that looked like they should be in the MOMA. Emil remembered Mei saying that Alfred's parents were rich, but he was only just starting to connect the dots now as he stood there, dumbstruck next to a pot of large, blue orchids. If Alfred could afford to live in a place like this, Emil thought, then why was he working at the same crummy daycare as him?

"Hey," Alfred said, pulling Emil out of his thoughts with a poke in the arm, "come on, the elevator's over there."

Emil nodded and allowed himself to be dragged through the lavish building towards Alfred's condo, ogling at all the art pieces and detailed interior design that they passed on the way.

As they entered Alfred's home they were met with the sight of a large open window and a beautiful, sunset lit, view of the water. Alfred turned on the lights to revile the scads of designer furniture that decorated his place of residence and a staircase leading up to a second story. Emil's head was practically spinning. This is ridiculous, he thought, I split rent with two other people and the three of us together could never afford a place this big.

"So...uh," Alfred mumbled unintelligibly, clearly searching for Emil to start some sort of conversation.

Emil could feel the awkward silence that was growing between them and fumbled for something to say.

"I-um...nice place…" he finally croaked out

"Oh, uh, thanks. My dad's got it for me as a graduation present. I think it's a little drab myself, but I'm glad you like it."

Emil cocked his eyebrow in surprise. This was his idea of drab?

"What exactly do your parents do?" he asked.

"Humm? Well, my Papa is a neurosurgeon. He's considered to be the best in the country, he even worked on the king of Poland once, can you believe that?" Alfred exclaimed, "and my Father used to be an English professor at Oxford, but then my parents moved here so he quit. Harvard offered him a position, but they had just adopted my brother and I and he already has a tone of money since he's like, the third in line to be the Duke of Corby or something, so he decided he wanted to stay home with us kids instead. Pretty neat huh?"

"Yeah...So then what are you doing working full time at a daycare?" Emil questioned, even more, perplexed now then he had been before, "Shouldn't you be in college or something?"

"Well my parents sure want me to be in college," Alfred huffed, "But I'm not interested. I'm just not cut out for that snooty academic environment, you know? I'd rather hang out with friends and volunteer at museums and stuff. But my dad's think I'm wasting my life away, so they said if I'm not gonna go to college they're gonna stop paying for my stuff, and low and behold, now I work at a daycare."

Alfred crossed his arms with an air of finality and Emil finally understood. Alfred was a trust fund kid that had temporarily lost his trust fund.

"So uh...you wanna play video games or something?" Alfred interjected, breaking Emil's train of thought.

"uhh, sure...what games do you have?"

"Oh, I don't know, I've got a bunch. Their all on the shelf over there if you wanna take a look," Alfred said, gesturing over to a crowded bookcase.

The two of them picked through the shelf for a good game and eventually decided on a new one that neither of them had played yet. Then they settled down on a plush "modern" couch to play. The two men sat there gaming and making small talk about work and video games for about half an hour before Emil felt Alfred put a tentative hand on his thigh.

Emil had, of course, understood Alfred's intentions for the night the second he had invited him over to his place, but he decided to be coy and ignore his advances. Alfred took Emil's lack of objection as a sign to keep going and began to gently massage Emil's thigh. He spent the next five minute or so slowly inching up his partner's leg before he suddenly pulled his hand away and set down his controller.

"Are you okay with this?" he asked, turning so that he could look directly at Emil, "I don't want to pressure you into anything."

Emil looked over at the other man and blinked in surprise.

"I'm not an idiot Alfred. You invited me over to your condo on our third date. It's pretty obvious that you want to do something more intimate than just play video games, and I wouldn't have agreed to come here if I wasn't okay with that."

"Oh...uh okay, I just...I know your ace and I wasn't sure if you were okay with..uh, um, sex?"

Emil began to laugh, both at his date mates awkwardness and out of embarrassment.

"Oh you don't need to worry about that" He tittered "I mean like yeah, I'm ace, and maybe sex isn't my favorite thing to do, but it's still fun, I still enjoy it, I just don't feel sexual attraction. Not all aces are sex repulsed you know."

Alfred gave a mortified blush and Emil couldn't help but feel bad for teasing him.

"But I appreciate you checking to make sure. It was very sweet of you," he said before leaning over to give Alfred a peck on the cheek.

Alfred relaxed at the physical contact and turned both their heads so that Emil was kissing his lips instead. Their kiss started out as quick and chaste, but soon enough their lips were moving against each other, and their fingers were tangled in each others hair, and Emil could taste the coca cola on Alfred's breath. They continued to kiss and groped and teased each other until it was totally dark out and the stars were shining through Alfred big, picture frame window. Finally, Alfred pulled away and gave Emil a hazy, lustful look.

"Should we take this upstairs to the bedroom?" he asked breathlessly.

Emil shivered at his husky voice in the darkness and grinned.

"Absolutely"

* * *

 **AN: Sorry this took so long folks, I was having some** **technical difficulties** **!**

 **This is also the closest I'm ever getting to writing smut, so sorry if anyone was disappointed.**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


	9. Coffee and Creelys

"So...what should I know before I meet your siblings?" Emil asked as he and Alfred walked into a cozy, out of the way, coffee shop.

"Oh, I don't know," Alfred shrugged, sitting down at a table and taking off his coat and scarf, "I guess Mathew is pretty shy, so it might take him a while to warm up to you. But don't worry Michelle is super extroverted, and she likes everyone, so she'll keep the conversation going."

"Well that's good I guess."

"Oh, and Michelle is bringing Mei with her," Alfred said, grimacing at the thought of it, "Apparently you made quite an impression when you met her on the bus. She wanted to see you again."

"mmmm."

"You want anything?" Alfred asked, pulling out his wallet as he changed the subject, "I was just gonna a get some plain coffee, but I'll buy you one of your frufru sugar drinks if you want."

"They're not frufru!" Emil cried indignantly, a blush spreading across his face, "I just don't see the point in buying plain coffee when I could make it at home. And anyway, they taste good."

"Whatever you say, babe," Alfred chuckled, " So do you want something?"

"Yeah fine. If they have caffè macchiato's I'll have one"

"How fancy."

"It is not!"

Alfred laughed and went to go place their orders.

* * *

A few minutes later the two men had settled into their seats and were both slowly sipping away at their drinks. They had just gotten into a very interesting conversation about airplane mechanics when the bell to the coffee shop rang and Mei came rushing in, followed by two other people that Emil didn't know.

The strangers were made up of a tall blond man and a small curly haired woman. The man, looked shockingly similar to Alfred, with the only obvious difference being a perpetual slouch. The woman beside him, on the other hand, looked almost nothing like Alfred, with the one exception being her bright, impenetrable smile. Emil figured that pair must be Alfred's siblings.

"Hi, Emil!" Mei exclaimed, bouncing up to him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders in an uninvited side hug, "It's so nice to see you again!"

"Uh, hi Mei," Emil replied as he tried to wiggle his way out of her arms, "it's nice to see you too."

"Why don't you let go of him hon, he doesn't look like he's enjoying that hug very much," said a bubbly voice.

Mei let go and Emil looked around to see what kind person had saved him from the unwanted affection. It was the girl with the big smile.

"Emil, this is my sister Michelle," said Alfred, pointing to her with a grin," and this," he continued, redirecting everyone's attention to his look-a-like "Is my twin, Matthew."

The three of them went through a quick round of "Nice to meet you's". Then Michelle and Mei left to go get coffee and Matthew sat down.

The atmosphere at the table quickly became awkward and silent as Emil and Matthew both fidgeted and tried to come up with conversation.

"So uh...I heard you met my brother at work…" Mathew started.

"Yeah, sure did," Emil replied, unintentional letting the conversation fade out. Then, realizing his mistake he added, "so...you and Alfred are twins,". Matthew just nodded and the table went silent.

After a solid minute of this Alfred finally lost it.

"Oh for fuck sake!" he cried, "You're both terrible at this. How do y'all even have friends?"

The two northerners just stared at the frustrated man between them quietly, neither of them wanting to embarrass themselves by responding, but both of them were a little offended. Who was Alfred to judge their conversation skills anyways?

"Alright fine," Alfred huffed, "You both like hockey, why don't you talk about that?"

Emil nodded slightly before trying to talk again.

"So, uh who's your favorite team?"

"The Montreal Canadiens."

"Oh"

"And you?"

"Skautafélag Akureyrar."

"Bless you."

"No, I wasn't sneezing, that's the name of the team. They're Icelandic."

"Oh, uh, sorry."

And then, once again there was silence.

Alfred gave a sigh of defeat before guzzling down the rest of his coffee and resting his head in his hands.

"God," he said, "Where's Michelle when you need her. I can't watch this."

It was at just that moment that Michelle and Mei finally re-appeared, both holding large, pink drinks, that appeared to be frappuccino knockoffs.

"Speak of the devil" Alfred quipped.

"You know," said Mei in a scolding, motherly tone, "It's not nice to call your sister and me devils."

Alfred only rolled his eyes, "Would you buzz off Mei?"

"Alfred be nice!" Michelle quipped.

"But she started it!"

"I don't care. You two are always mean to each other. Would you please just try to get along today?"

"Fine," the two said in unison, although neither of them sounded particularly sincere about it.

"Thank you," Michelle huffed. She sat down to enjoy her drink, adjusting her skirt around her before reaching up to fiddle with her pigtails and turning her attention to her brother's boyfriend.

"Sorry about that Emil, they don't get along very well."

"So I've noticed," Emil smirked.

"I'm sure you have. So anyways tell me, Emil, how did you meet Alfred? I know you work together, but there must be more than that."

"Oh, uh, not really. We met at work, and then later that day I saw him at Ben and Jerry's and we ended up talking. He asked me out a few weeks later."

"Aww, that's cute!"

"thanks?"

"And _you're_ cute. Damn, Alfred said you were a looker, but he never mentioned your unusual hair color, or that you had purple eyes! What a catch!"

"I'm...literally just albino," Emil said, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. Was this a normal way to talk to your sibling's partner? He had never said anything like this to Mathias.

"We'll, albino or not, you're very attractive."

Emil was just about to try and respond when Alfred beat him to the punch. "Hey Michelle," he interjected, "could you stop hitting on Emil please?"

"Oh, what's wrong," Michelle laughed, "Do you feel threatened?"

"Nah, Em is gay," he replied nonchalantly, "It's just a little weird to watch my sister flirt with my boyfriend."

"I guess that's fair. Fine, I'll do my best, but no promises. You know I get my flirtatious nature from papa," she said with a wink.

"Yeah," Alfred sighed, "I know."

"But anyway," Michelle said, turning her attention back to Emil, "what sort of things do you like to do? I know Al took you to the aquarium, do you like sea life? I know I do, my favorite fish is the striped marlin! They just look so cool!"

"Oh, um neat," Emil stuttered, not totally sure what to say, "I uh...I guess I like sea life. I'm mostly just a fan of seabirds though."

"Oh! Me too!" Mei exclaimed, "You know, I'm a big fan of Short-tailed albatross'. Very ugly birds. Truly the Creelys of the bird world."

"Creelys?" Emil asked.

"Croc Heelys," Alfred explained, "come on Em, get with the times."

"Oh god, those sound awful."

"They are," Michelle confirmed.

"I don't know, I'd wear them," Alfred admitted, earning a look of disgust from the rest of the table.

"Emil,"Mei inquired,"how can you be with the type of monster that would wear Creelys? No sex is that good."

"Well as revolted as I am Mei," Emil chuckled,"I don't really think that's the sort of thing that should make or break a relationship."

"Well if I were you I would break up with him for his crimes of fashion."

"If it were you-you wouldn't be dating Alfred in the first place," Michelle reminded her.

"You right." Mei conceded, "but getting back on topic, seabirds. Whaddya think?"

The little group continued their conversation for several more hours, buying themselves several more drinks in the process. It was a long, and enjoyable evening, and at the end the day, when the coffee cups had all been composted and he and Alfred were back out in the cold winter air Emil had to admit: Mei and Alfred's siblings were pretty fun people, and he hoped he would get to see them again.

* * *

 **AN: Hey all, it's been a hot minute since I updated this (by which I mean almost 3 months I am so sorry). I know this isn't my best work, but I've been really busy, so I hope you enjoy it anyways! The quarter ends in a few weeks and I've only got about 2 chapters left, so hopefully, I will finish this story soon and can move onto different stuff.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


	10. Move in with me?

They were sitting in Alfred's living room three days after their six month anniversary when Alfred finally admitted something that Emil had long suspected.

The two of them were on the couch, Emil playing on an old DS and Alfred waist deep in paper files that the other had never seen before. Halfway through one of his many manila envelopes, Alfred stopped and threw the papers down on the coffee table with a loud groan.

"I give up!" he declared, neglecting to give any context to his statement.

Emil looked up at his boyfriend befuddled, and asked the obvious question, "Give up on what?"

"Well…" Alfred sighed, hunching over and cradling his head in his hands, "I never mentioned this cus I didn't want to worry you, but uh… I'm really bad at budgeting. Like really bad. My parents are so rich that I never had to learn how, and now that they've taken away my trust fund all of my spendings is kind of... catching up to me. I'm just...I'm not really sure what to do about it. I should have gotten an accountant from the get-go, but at this point, I can't really afford one."

"An accountant?" Emil scoffed, "You don't need an accountant Al. Poor people have been budgeting for centuries without needing an accountant, and the fact that your family is rich shouldn't prevent you from doing it yourself, here, get me a pen and paper."

Alfred grabbed a notebook off the coffee tab and handed it to his partner who proceeded to write the words "Weekly budget" across the top of the paper.

"Okay," Emil said, turning his attention to Alfred, "You don't have to worry about rent or mortgages, so this shouldn't be too hard. Let's start with your grocery budget, how much would you say you spend on food in a given week?"

"Um...idk, around $200 maybe?"

"200! In a week?! Are you sure you don't mean month?"

"N-no, I mean week. Why is that bad?"

"Yes, it's bad! That's almost 800 dollars a month just for food Alfred. You're one person, how do you even spend that much?"

"Well I mean, I don't really like to cook, so I go to restaurants most of the time. I...I guess it really adds up, huh?"

"I'll say. Okay, here, let's make you some easy meal plans so that you can cook at home and go from there."

* * *

3 hours later the two men were still sitting at the coffee table trying to work out a budget and both of them were getting frustrated.

"You don't need a subscription to 12 different tabloids, Al."

"Yes, I do! How else will I get important information like uh...um," Alfred stalled, picking up a copy of U.S weekly and turning to the cover, "That Ben Affleck has a back tattoo? I mean that's critical information to have Emil."

"It really isn't. You only need to subscribe to one, and I think even that's a bit much honestly."

"Oh, so you're telling me that you don't subscribe to a single tabloid? Sounds like a load of hooey to me."

"Of course I don't subscribe to tabloids," Emil scoffed, " they rot your brain!"

"You sound like my dad."

"You're father must be a wise man then."

Alfred opened his mouth like he was about to argue with Emil statement, but then seemed to think better of it and gave a deep, worn out sign instead, putting his head down on the table.

"This is so hard," he whined, "Why do I have to give up so much stuff? Why can't I have 12 tabloid subscriptions and impulse buy camping gear and pre-order every new video game? I could do all of that stuff before. Money is so stupid."

Emil sighed as well. He had known for a while now that Alfred came from money, but he was just now starting to realize how many superfluous expenditures his boyfriend took for granted.

"I know you're not used to this Al, but this is how most people live. You've got to prioritize things. You can't just go around spending money like a movie star when you're making minimum wage."

Alfred lifted his head and pouted, "But I'm so bad at this! Why can't you just do all this budgeting stuff for me? You're actually good at it."

"I'm not going to budget for you Al, that's not my job, and even if it was, you'd probably just go off budget anyways based on your current spending habits."

"I would not!"

"Uh huh," Emil snorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his partner's statement.

"Well okay, I probably would, but that's not my fault! I'm just not used to having to save money. I need someone who will shop for me!"

"So now you want an accountant and a personal shopper? You're ridiculous."

"No, _you're_ ridiculous. How can you expect me to do this stuff? Come on Emil, you know what you're doing, why can't you do it for me?"

"Because it's not my money Alfred. I'm not gonna do financials for someone else when I have to do my own."

Alfred paused for a moment, then his face brightened and he slammed his fists on the table in excitement before turning to Emil with a grin.

"Then we should combine our income!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Excuse you?" Emil said, face warped in befuddlement.

"Move in with me!" Alfred elaborated, "Come on, we've been dating for six months now, it's not like it would be unexpected, and I've heard you gripe about having to live with your brother. This way you can move out of your bro's apartment and you'll be around to budget, so I won't have to do it. It's a win-win situation!"

Emil raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend's suggestion, stopping to consider the possibility. He had to admit, it was an appealing offer. Budgeting was only a small nuisance compared to living with Mathias and Lukas, and Al's condo was practically a mansion compared to the cramped apartment he lived in now. It was a good deal all around, and there was the extra perk of getting to wake up next to his cuddly boyfriend every morning. Really it was an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Yeah, alright," Emil finally conceded after a moment of silence, "Why not? Living together could be fun. I'll talk to Lukas about it tonight and make sure he and Mattias can afford rent on their own. "

"Wait, really?" Alfred asked, surprise apparent on his face, "I didn't think you were gonna go for that. Nice!"

Emil laughed at his boyfriend's antics and Alfred pulled him into a hug, kissing him wetly on the cheek.

"Man, this is great!" Alfred proclaimed, "I mean really. How didn't I think of this before?"

"Now don't get too excited," Emil scolded, chuckling as he pushed his way out of their hug, "I still need to talk to Lukas. And anyway, just because I'll be around to take care of finances doesn't mean you don't have to learn to budget. It's an important skill, I can't believe your parents never taught you how."

On hearing this, Alfred stuck out his lower lip in a pout and winded his eyes to puppy dog size, "But Emiiiiiiil, I don't waaaant to," he whined.

Emil only smiled at his partner's childish behavior, "To bad big guy, that's part of the deal."

* * *

"Hey Lukas," Emil called, shuffling into their living room/ dining area, "I need to talk to you."

Lukas looked up from his spot on the couch and fixed his brother with a hard glare.

"What happened? Did that stupid boyfriend of yours get arrested? Because I'm not bailing his rich ass out. He can suck it up and call his parents if he-"

"It's nothing like that Lukas! It's never anything like that! Why do you always jump to the craziest conclusions?" Emil gripped as he sat down across from his brother.

"hmm, I guess assuming the worst just makes life more fun," he mused, checking his nails with disinterest as the talked.

"That doesn't make any sense," Emil huffed, "But anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"To bad. So what's on your mind lil bro?"

"Alfred asked me to move in with him."

Lukas looked up from his cuticles with shock on his face, "oh…"

"I really want to do it, Lukas. He's got a nice place, and we've been together for six months now, so it's not like we're rushing it, but," he hesitated, choosing his next words carefully, "I don't want you and Mattias to have trouble making rent, so I can wait if that's gonna be a problem. I don't want you guys to lose your lease or anything."

The older of the two brothers sat in thought for a few minutes before finally speaking.

"You should do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I am. I don't think I've ever seen you this invested in a romantic partner Emil, and I certainly haven't ever seen you be committed enough to move in with someone. If you really want to do this then Alfred must be really special to you. Go ahead and move in with him."

"But what about money?"

"Don't worry about it Em. Ever sense Mathias got that raise last month money hasn't been as tight, and I can always pick up a few extra shifts at the Library if I need to. We'll be okay."

Emil's eye softened as he looked at his brother. It wasn't often that the two of them had a heart to heart like this, but when they did it was always a good reminder that, despite all of their teasing, they really did care about each other.

"Thank you, Lukas, I really appreciate it," Emil said, standing up from the couch.

"I love you, little brother."

Emil smiled as he left the room. It was good to know that Lukas supported him.

* * *

 **AN: What's that? This story has an actual plot? I planned thing out ahead of time? Incredible, y'all never saw it coming.**

 **Anyways, there's just one more chapter and then an** **epilog so we're almost done!**

 **Thanks for reading~**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


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